THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



117 



UNDESIRABLE FEATURES OK MICHIGAN'S 

 FOUL- BROOD I, AW. 



Gleanings for April ist has a communi- 

 cation from Harmon Smith, of Orleans, 

 Michigan, in which he says that he had 

 much to do in defeating the foul brood 

 law that bee-keepers attempted to have 

 passed by our last legislature. His rea- 

 sons fordoing this are that he thinks that 

 we have all the law that is now need- 

 ed — all that is needed is its enforcement. 

 jNIr. Smith thinks that the reason for 

 wishing a change in our present law is to 

 give some one at the capital a nice fat 

 job. Allow me to call Mr. Smith's at- 

 tention to several features of the old law 

 that I consider objectionable. 



There is too much complication about 

 the appomtment of a commissioner. If 

 a bee-keeper suspects that foul brood ex- 

 ists in the apian,* of a neighbor, he must 

 first find four other bee-keepers to join 

 with him in petitioning the appointment 

 of a foul brood commissioner for that 

 county. Upon the presentation of such 

 petition, the judge of probate is to appoint 

 a competent commissioner, a resident of 

 the county, who shall receive %2.oo a day 

 for his services while making the investi- 

 gation. If it turns out that there is no 

 foul brood where it was suspected, then 

 the person making the complaint must 

 pay the commissioner. You will see that 

 there is a whole lot of red tape about it. 

 Many bee-keepers who are not in the 

 business very extensively would hes- 

 itate about taking all of this troub- 

 le, even if they did suspect the pres- 

 ence of foul brood in some neigh- 

 bor's apiary, especially if they would 

 be called upon to bear the expense 

 if it turned out that there was no foul 

 brood. Compare all of this with simply 

 the writing of a letter to a state inspector, 

 saying: "I suspect that there is foul brood 

 in the apiary of my neighbor, John 

 Brown " There is another point right 

 here: A man does not like to complain 

 openly of his neighbor: it sometimes 

 leads to hard feelings. With our present 



law no complaint can be made without 

 the complainant being known. There is 

 no objection to his being known, but be- 

 cause it will be known who made the com- 

 plaint, and because the expense will be 

 thrown upon the complaninant if there is 

 no disease, many who are bee-keepers in 

 a small way will keep still because of the 

 difficulty, publicity, and possibility of 

 expense. This may seem like a strange 

 objection to urge against our present law, 

 but any one with a good knowledge of 

 human nature will see at a glance that it 

 is a most serious objection. A state com 

 missioner can be notified easily and/n- 

 vately, and he comes, not apparently be- 

 cause a neighbor has complained, but be- 

 cause he has a risht to come — he has the 

 official authority to examine any man's 

 bees. 



Another objection to our present law 

 is that it is not possible to find a com- 

 petent man in each county to cope with 

 foul brood. Foul brood may have made 

 its appearance for the first time in some 

 county, and there may be no bee-keeper 

 who knows very much about it. To suc- 

 cessfully cope with the disease requires a 

 man who is thoroughly competent and 

 has had experience. 



And now comes the weightiest objec- 

 tion of all: The present law makes no 

 provision whatever for curing the disease 

 — for saving the bees and hives. They 

 must be destroyed. At the time when the 

 law was passed it was probably all 

 right in this respect, as we did not then 

 know that the bees and hives might be 

 saved. Now we know that the bees may 

 be shaken off and saved, and the hives 

 may be disinfected and used; and, if one 

 has sufficient skill, and is careful enough, 

 even the honey and wax may be saved. 



In Canada and Wisconsin they are get- 

 ting rid of the scourge. In Michigan ab- 

 solutely nothing is being done, simply 

 tjecause the present law is lacking m the 

 points that I have mentioned. 



Mr. Smith says that the anxiety to get 

 a new law is that thereby some one at the 

 Capitol may get a job. Bee keepers who 



